An Airbus A320 plane carrying 66 passengers, left Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport at 11.09pm (21.09 GMT) local time on Wednesday night.

According EgyptAir, at 2.45am Egypt local time (00.45 GMT) Greek air traffic controllers reported the plane was heading southeast before making “a sudden turn” to the northwest – and then quickly disappearing from radar while traveling at 37,000 feet, as contact was lost at 16km/10 miles inside of Egyptian airspace.

According to airline authorities, no distress call was given, as the plane “faded” from radar.

The EgyptAir flight is said to be staffed by two “experienced” pilots.

Some members of the media are drawing comparisons between today’s event and the Russian Metrojet crash in Sinai, Egypt in late 2015, where the Metrojet plane also disappeared from radar and also gave no distress call. It was later concluded that a bomb on board was very likely to have been the cause, although no conclusive proof has been offered as to who did it, and why.

Additionally, the unexplained disappearance of passenger airline Malaysian Flight MH370 in 2014 has also fueled speculation of foul play, as well as revealing the existence of standard ‘Fly-By-Wire’ technology aboard both Boeing and Airbus planes, known as the Boeing Uninterruptible Autopilot.